103rd birth anniversary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman -Sumi Khan

 

The 103rd birth anniversary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman will be observed on Friday in a befitting manner both at home and abroad.Bangabandhu, the greatest Bangalee of all times, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was born in the village of Tungipara under the then Gopalganj Subdivision (now District) of the then Faridpur District on March 17, 1920. His parents ,Sheikh Lutfar Rahman and his mother Sheikh Sayera Khatun had four daughters and two sons. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was their third child. His parents used to adoringly call him "Khoka".

 The elders fixed Sheikh Mujib’s marriage with his paternal cousin when he was just thirteen years old. Mujib’s academic life faced halt several times because he suffered from several diseases during his childhood.

1932/1933

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman married Sheikh Fazilatunnesa (Renu). Together they had two daughters, Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana, and three sons, Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal and Sheikh Russel. ​1942

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman passed Matriculation examination from Gopalganj Missionary School. The same year he got himself admitted into the Islamia College (currently Maulana Azad College), Kolkata. From there he completed his graduation in the year 1947.

Mujib, the third among six brothers and sisters, had his primary education in the local Gimadanga School.His early education suffered for about four years due to eye ailments. He passed his matriculation from Gopalganj Missionary School in 1942, Intermediate of Arts (IA) from CalcuttaIslamia College in 1944 and BA from the same college in 1947. Bangabandhu showed the potential of leadership since his school life. 

In the year of 1938. Mujib was a young boy of only eighteen, fully fearless and determined in his attitude and action. In Gopalganj, Hindus and Muslims had been at daggers drawn at that time, now and then engaging in conflicts. It was perhaps the month of March or April of the year. On one evening, Mujib just returned from the playground after playing football. A man called Khondoker Shamsul Haque met Mujib and informed that some Hindu people had forcefully taken one of his classmates Malek away to the house of Shuren Banarji, the president of Hidu Shova, and were torturing the boy. Shamsul Haque asked Mujib to help that boy if he could. Mujib, accompanied by some other students, went to the place at once and asked them to release his friend. On seeing Mujib, a gentleman namely Rampada Datta readily turned to him with a torrent of abusive words. In reaction, Mujib protested his words and told his companions to call the boys of his group. In the meantime, Rampada called the police, and soon three policemen came. Mujib said to them, “He (Malek) must be released; otherwise we will snatch him away by force.” Meanwhile, responding to Mujib’s emergency call, his maternal uncles as well as their groups came rushing to the spot. Meanwhile, a fierce fight began between the two sides. After a sever fighting, Mujib’s people freed Malek by breaking off the door of a room. As Rampada came to hit Mujib with a stick, Mujib struck him, bursting his head.

In the wake of the conflict, a case was filed against a number of people including Mujib. The police inspector was reluctant to arrest Mujib at his home because the former respected Mujib’s father. However, when Mujib was taken to the court prison, a court-police inspector approached the prison and said, “Mujib is a dangerous boy. He stabbed Rampada with a knife; he cannot be permitted bail at all.” Mujib said, “Do not blather on. It will not be good.” Turning to the people who sat before him, surprised and bewildered, the court inspector said, “Look, how daring this little boy is!” Well, Mujib was released from the jail after seven days and the case was dismissed later, but Mujib had to pay fine for that.

The next story is about Mujib’s passion for football. Mujib had some kind of interest in different sports, though his father would not like to allow him to play much because Mujib suffered from heart disease from time to time. However, Mujib’s father was a good footballer and the secretary of the officer’s club while Mujib was the captain of the Mission School. When two teams rivaled each other on the playground, people would enjoy it to a great extent. 

In 1940, Mujib’s team defeated his father’s side in almost all the matches. Officer’s club had enough money; they could hire new and famous players for every match. But, all the players of Mujib’s team were students, so eleven of them had to play in every match. In the last tournament of the year, five consecutive matches were drawn. Mujib’s players were very tired and needed some days to rest and get back their fitness. But his father insisted that the final match had to be played on the next morning. He said, “We must play tomorrow morning. We cannot postpone; it is too expensive to keep the hired players longer.” Mujib said, “We have exams tomorrow morning. We cannot play the match tomorrow.” The secretary of Gopalgonj football federation was now in deep water, once pursuing Mujib and then calling on his father. Tired of entreating the two, the secretary threw up his cards saying, “It is an affair between you and your father, you had better resolve it.” Mujib’s father then called Babu Rasranjan Shen Gupta, the headmaster of the Mission School, to whose pressing request finally Mujib had to surrender. Mujib said, “Sir, we have played throughout the year and did not lose in any match. Our legs are aching. If we do not take rest for three or four days, we are sure to lose the match.” However, next morning the match was held and Mujib’s team was defeated by his father’s side by one goal.

Another interesting story of his life is related to Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy. Then, it was 1938. Sher-e-Bangla A.K. Fazlul Huq was the then prime minister of Bangla and Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy was the labour minister. They came to visit Gopalganj. A huge public meeting took place there. Suhrawardy went to visit Gopalganj Missionary School, of which Sheikh Mujib was a student at that time. A group of students comprising Muslims and some Hindus, under the leadership of Mujib welcomed the minister. After visiting the school, when Suhrawardy was heading for the launch, on the way he was asking some questions in broken Bangla words, to which Mujib was answering. The minister asked about Mujib’s name and identity. As a government officer introduced Mujib and his ancestral identity, Suhrawardy took Mujib to his bosom and asked, “Has not Muslim League (committee) been established here in your place yet?” 

“There is no such institution,” Mujib answered, “not even Muslim Chhatro League.” Suhrawardy said nothing but took down his name and address in his notebook. Later they opened correspondence with each other. This incident was in fact the foundation, which gradually led to the development of a good relationship between these two great leaders.

1943

In 1943, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was elected councillor of All India Muslim League from Bengal. He continued to serve admirably in this position till the partition of India in 1947.

From the aforementioned stories, it becomes obvious that Mujib was a very sensible boy even during his boyhood who talked to anybody fearlessly and loved to help unfortunate people. He invested a good deal of his time and energy in the service of others. And another thing that we can easily notice is that Mujib revered his father a lot. Although he was obedient to the elders, practically he never feared them, especially when he was right. Mujib was not shy. And we cannot deny that these signs of virtues that germinated in his boyhood had a great influence on his life. 

While a student of Gopalganj Missionary School, AK Fazlul Huq, the then Chief Minister of Bengal, came to visit the school (1938). The young Mujib is said to have organized an agitation in order to impress the chief minister about the dismal situation of the region. He was an activist of the Bengal Provincial Muslim League and a member of the All India Muslim League Council from 1943 onwards. In politics, he had been a fervent follower of Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, a legendary leader in the Indian subcontinent and considered as the champion of democracy. 

When Mujib was a student in Islamia College, he was elected general secretary of the College Students Union in 1946.Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, was not only the most popular leader of Bengali people but he was equally revered by numberless people around the world. Whenever we come to learn about the struggling political life of this charismatic leader, his courage, great oratory power, integrity of character and his sacrifice for the Bengali people readily impress us and earn our respect. His life was full of struggles. He was the driving force behind the independence of Bangladesh. He delivered a historic speech on March 07, 1971 electrifying millions of Bengali people. The biggest success of his life is perhaps the attainment of Bengali people’s freedom. This is why people still call him ‘Bangabandhu’ or the friend of Bengal. However, when people try to know about Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, they are more likely to get a glimpse of all the great things he did during his lifetime. But there are so many incidents of Sheikh Mujib’s life, especially those of his eventful boyhood, which are still unknown to so many people. 

Very well-known stories of Bangbandhu’s boyhood, which will make the new generation familiar with the childhood days.

After a break owing to his eye surgery, in 1937 Mujib resumed his school education, not at the school he used to study before but at a new one, Gopalganj Mission School, because his classmates at that old one had been promoted to upper grades by that time. 

Meanwhile, Mujib’s father hired a private tutor namely Kazi Abdul Hamid MSC who lived at their home. The teacher set up an organization called ‘Muslim Sheba Shamity’ for helping the poor Muslim students.

 Every Sunday, Mujib along with others used to go from door to door to collect rice. By selling the rice, the teacher used to buy books for the boys and provided them with money to pay for their exam fees and other expenses and sometimes hired some private-tutors for them. The young Mujib had to carry out a major portion of the work with teacher Kazi Abdul Hamid. 

 At one point of time, the teacher died after suffering from tuberculosis when Mujib had to take the chief responsibility of this organization. He carried out his work as its secretary while another teacher was made its president. A funny thing that stubborn Mujib and the boys of this group used to do is that, if any Muslim refused to give them rice, they would go to the house in group and insist the person to donate. If it was needed, sometimes even bricks were thrown at night at those people’s houses. Now and then Mujib’s father punished him for causing such troubles to others, though his father never debarred him from doing charitable works.

During the 1946 general elections, Sheikh Mujib was deputed by the Muslim League to work for the party candidates in the Faridpur district. 

After partition (1947), he got himself admitted into the University of Dhaka to study law but was unable to complete it, because he was expelled from the University in early 1949 on the charge of 'inciting the fourth-class employees' in their agitation against the University authority's indifference towards their legitimate demands.Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was one of the principal organisers behind the formation of the East Pakistan Muslim Students League (1948). 

In fact, his active political career began with his election to one of the three posts of joint secretaries of the newly established East Pakistan Awami Muslim League (1949) while interned in jail.

In 1953, Sheikh Mujib was elected general secretary of the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League, a post that he held until 1966 when he became president of the party. It was due to Mujib's initiative that in 1955 the word 'Muslim' was dropped from the name of the party to make it sound secular. It is indicative of his secularist attitude to politics that he developed after 1947. 

To give full time to the organizational affairs of the Awami League, Sheikh Mujib resigned from the cabinet of Ataur Rahman Khan (1956-58) after serving for only nine months. 

During the regime of general Ayub Khan, Mujib had the nerve to revive the Awami League in 1964, though his political mentor (guru), Suhrawardy was in favour of keeping political parties defunct and working under the political amalgam called National Democratic Front for the restoration of constitutional rule in Pakistan. 

Mujib, after all, was already quite disillusioned about the concept of Pakistan.The impression that he got as a member of Pakistan's Second Constituent Assembly-cum-Legislature (1955-1956) and later as a member of Pakistan National Assembly (1956-1958) was that the attitude of West Pakistani leaders to East Pakistan was not one of equality and fraternity.Sheikh Mujib was one of the first among the language movement detainees (11 March 1948). 

His address on September 21, 1955 in the Pakistan Constituent Assembly on the question of Bangla language is noteworthy. Claiming the right to speak in his mother tongue, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said: 'We want to speak in Bengali here, whether we know any other language or not it matters little for us. If we feel that we can express ourselves in Bengali we will speak always in Bengali even though we can speak in English also. If that is not allowed, we will leave the House, but Bengali should be allowed in this house; that is our stand.' 

In another address (25 August 1955) what Sheikh Mujib said in the Constituent Assembly in protest against the change of nomenclature of the province from East Bengal to East Pakistan is equally pertinent. 'Sir, you will see that they want to place the word 'East Pakistan' instead of 'East Bengal'. We have demanded so many times that you should use [East] Bengal instead of [East] Pakistan. The word 'Bengal' has a history, has a tradition of its own....'

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman rose to political eminence in the early 1960s.Through his captivating organizing capability he was able to retrieve the Awami League from intra party politics and exits of a number of factions from the party's mainstream. 

A magnetic organiser, Sheikh Mujib had established his full command over the party.In 1966, he announced his famous six-point programme what he called 'Our' [Bangalis'] Charter of Survival'. 

The points are: 1) a federal State and introduction of parliamentary form of government based on universal adult franchise; 2) all departments except defense and foreign affairs will be vested in the hands of the federating units or provincial governments; 3) separate currencies for two states or effective measures to stop flight of capital from East Pakistan to West Pakistan; 4) transfer of all rights of taxation to the states; 5) independence of the states in international trades; and finally 6) rights of the states to create' militia or para-military forces for self-defense. 

In short, the programme envisioned a new approach to political life. In letters and spirit, the Six-Point Programme meant virtual independence for East Pakistan. Though conservative elements of all political parties looked at it with consternation, it roused the imagination of the younger generation right away, particularly the students, youths and working classes. 

Following the presentation of the challenging the Six-Point programme by Mujib, the Ayub regime put him behind the bars. 

A sedition case, known as Agartala conspiracy case officially named as State vs. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and others, was brought against him along with 34 others. Majority of them were Bangalee officers and servicemen in Pakistan Air and Naval forces. They also included three senior Bangalee civil servants. As Mujib was already in prison he was shown arrested as number one accused. He was charged with conspiring against the state of Pakistan together with the other co-accused. 

According to the allegations, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the other accused were secretly planning to separate East Pakistan by force with the help of India.The counter-offensive move, however, proved to be counter-productive. The trial of the case in a special tribunal in the Dhaka Kurmitola Cantonment stirred up Bangalee emotion and sentiment against Pakistani domineering attitude to East Pakistan. 

During the trial in the Agartala Conspiracy Case, Mujib's charisma grew further and almost the whole nation stood up in protest of the trial of their leader. 

The mass movement, organized especially by the younger generation, reached such a momentum in early 1969 that the Ayub regime tried to avoid an impending civil war in the country by withdrawing the case. Sheikh Mujib was released on 22 February 1969 unconditionally. 

On the following day of his release, the Sarbadaliya Chhatra Sangram Parishad (All Parties Students Action Committee) which proved to be the most effective political and social force in compelling the government to free Sheikh Mujib unconditionally, organized a mass reception to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Ramna Racecourse ground (now Suhrawardy Udyan). On behalf of the Sangram Parishad Tofail Ahmed, the president of the Sangram Parishad, bestowed on Sheikh Mujibur Rahman the title of 'Bangabandhu' (Friend of the Bangalis). In him, they saw a kind of sacrificing leader who suffered jail terms for about twelve years during the 23 years of Pakistani rule. Twelve years in jail and ten years under close surveillance, Pakistan to Sheikh Mujib proved to be more a prison than a free homeland. 

The first ever general elections of Pakistan in December 1970 made Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman the sole spokesman of East Pakistan.And under his leadership, the Awami League won 167 (including 7 women reserved seats) out of 169 seats allotted to East Pakistan in the Pakistan National Assembly.The people gave him the absolute mandate in favour of his Six-point doctrine. Now it was his turn to implement it. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at a solemn ceremony held on 3 January 1971 at Ramna Race Course with all the East Pakistan representatives took an oath never to deviate from the six-point when framing the Constitution for Pakistan. 

Under the circumstances, General Yahya's military junta and Z.A Bhutto, the elected leader of West Pakistan, conspired not to allow Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to form the government in the centre.On March 1 in 1971, President Yahya Khan postponed unilaterally the Dhaka National Assembly meet scheduled to be held on March 3. 

The announcement triggered off the general agitation in East Pakistan. In response, the Bangabandhu called for an all-out non-cooperation movement in East Pakistan. 

The whole province supported him. During the course of non-cooperation (2-25 March 1971), the entire civil administration in East Pakistan came under his control and moved according to his directives. Mujib became the de facto head of government for the province. In the words of Evening Standard (a London Daily):

'Sheikh Mujibur Rahman now appears to be the boss of East Pakistan, with the complete support of the population. Rahman's home in Dhanmondi, already known as Number 10 Downing Street in imitation of the British Prime Minister's residence, has been besieged by bureaucrats, politicians, bankers, industrialists and people from all walks of life' (12 March 1971). 

During this time, on March 7, 1971 Mujib made a historic address at a mammoth gathering of a million of people at the Racecourse ground which marked a turning point in the history of the Bangalee nation. 

In his address Mujib made specific charges against the martial law authorities which failed to transfer power to the elected representatives. At the end of his speech, he declared: 'Build forts in each homestead. You must resist the Pakistani enemy with whatever you have in hand. ... Remember, we have given a lot of blood, a lot more blood we shall give if need be, but we shall liberate the people of this country, Insha Allah' [if God blessed]. ... The struggle this time is the struggle for our emancipation; the struggle this time is the struggle for independence.'

Meanwhile, President Yahya Khan and other leaders from West Pakistan came to Dhaka on March 15 to start a dialogue with the Bangabandhu and his party.The dialogue began on the following day and continued intermittently down to March 25 morning.During the period, non-cooperation and hartals continued unremittingly in East Pakistan. 

Students and leaders of various political parties had been declaring independence from March 2 and the spree continued. Against this backdrop, at mid-night of 25 March 1971, the Pakistan army launched its brutal crackdown in different areas of Dhaka city including the University of Dhaka killing students, teachers and innocent people in the name of operation searchlight.Thus, a nine-month long genocidal killing was unleashed by the Pakistan occupation army. 

Sheikh Mujib was arrested on the night of 25 March and was kept confined at Dhaka Cantonment until he was taken to West Pakistan for facing trial for 'sedition' and inciting insurrection. 

Before his arrest Bangabandhu sent a wireless message to Chittagong over the ex-EPR transmitter for transmission declaring the Independence of Bangladesh. 

To quote his declaration: 'This may be my last message, from today Bangladesh is independent. I call upon the people of Bangladesh wherever you might be and whatever you have, to resist the army of occupation to the last. Your fight must go on until the last soldier of the Pakistan occupation army is expelled from the soil of Bangladesh and final victory is achieved.'

Although during the War of Liberation in the wake of the 25 March army crackdown Bangabandhu had been a prisoner in the hands of Pakistan, he was made, in absentia, the President of the provisional government, called the Mujibnagar government, formed on 10 April 1971 by the people's representatives to head the Liberation War. 

He was also made the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. Throughout the period of the War of Liberation, Sheikh Mujib's charisma worked as the source of inspiration for freedom fighters and for national unity and strength.The trial of Bangabandhu by the Pakistani junta giving death sentence to him moved the world leaders to save his life. 

After the liberation of Bangladesh on December 16, 1971 from Pakistani occupation, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was released from Pakistan jail and via London he made a triumphant homecoming, arriving in Dhaka on 10 January 1972 in the midst of joy and jubilations throughout the country.

 Hundreds of thousands of people of all walks of life received him at the Tejgaon old Airport according him a heroic welcome. 

With his homecoming, all uncertainties loomed large around the leadership of the new republic, for that matter, the future of Bangladesh were removed, as Daily The Guardian (published from London) in an editorial on 10 January 1972 wrote: 'Once Sheikh Mujibur Rahman steps out at Dacca Airport the new republic becomes a solid fact.'

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman headed the first government of the post-liberation Bangladesh for a short period of three and a half years. Starting from scratch his government had to deal with countless problems of a war- ravaged country.

Under the leadership of Bangabandhu, the state-building and nation-building took off the ground covering all important fields.Restoring law and order, recovering illegal arms, rehabilitating the freedom fighters, rebuilding the communication system, saving lives of the people hostile to the War of Liberation from the public wrath, and, most importantly, feeding the hungry millions and many others were the formidable challenges before his government.

In spite of all these problems, Sheikh Mujib never faltered to enact a constitution, which he did within ten months.Return of Indian allied forces was ensured within three months of liberation.Within a period of fifteen months general elections were held (7 March 1973). As many as 140 countries recognized Bangladesh.

Bangabandhu set forth the guiding principle of Bangladesh's foreign policy: 'Friendship to all and malice to none'.

A group of disgruntled army adventurers assassinated him on August 15 in 1975 along with most of his family members which is the blackest chapter of the nation's history.In October, 2017, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognised the historic 7th March Speech of Bangabandhu as part of the world's documentary heritage.

 

Top Revolutionary Bagha Jatin-Sculpture Vandalized in Kushtia:4 held for negligence- By Sumi Khan

Within 13 days of vandalizing the sculpture of Bangabondhu, on Thursday mid night, 2 radicals by motorcycle came and vandalized the sculpture of the revolutionary freedom fighter against British rule in India, Jatindranath Mukherjee, popularly known as ‘Bagha Jatin’ in Kumarkhali upazila of Kushtia of Bangladesh,said the witness Mojibur Rahman, night gurd of Kaya College.

Inspired by Swami Vivekananda, Jatin expressed his ideals in simple words: "Amra morbo, jaat jagbe" — "We shall die to awaken the nation". It is corroborated in the tribute paid to Jatin by Charles Tegart, the Intelligence Chief and Police Commissioner of Bengal, "Though I had to do my duty, I have a great admiration for him. He died in an open fight."

Later in life, Tegart admitted: "Their driving power (...) immense: if the army could be raised or the arms could reach an Indian port, the British would lose the War". Professor Tripathi analysed the added dimensions revealed by the Howrah Case proceedings: acquire arms locally and abroad; raise a guerrilla; create a rising with Indian soldiers; Jatin Mukherjee's action helped improve (especially economically) the people's status. "He had indeed an ambitious dream."

Informed about his death, M.N. Roy wrote: "I could not forget the injunction of the only man I ever obeyed almost blindly[...] JatinDa's heroic death [...] must be avenged. Only a year had passed since then. But in the meantime, I had come to realise that I admired Jatin Da because he personified, perhaps without himself knowing it, the best of mankind. The corollary to that realisation was that Jatinda's death would be avenged if I worked for the ideal of establishing a social order in which the best in man could be manifest."

Earlier on 4 December the radical forces vandalized the Statue of Madhu Das martyr of 1971, owner of ‘Madhu’s Canteen of Dhaka University. No one arrested yet for this.

Advocate Nizamul Huq Chunnu, president of Kaya College Governing body, Harun ur Rashid, principal of the college, Anisur Rahman, member of the college governing body and Khalilur Rahman, night guard of the college are arrested to interrogate by police.

Earlier,2 Madrasa students Abu Bakkar and Sabuj confessed before the court on 12 December,they’re influenced by the radical anti-liberation hefazat leaders Mamunul and Babunagari to vandalize Bangabandhu’s sculpture in Kushtia around 8:30am on December 5.Two madrasa teachers Al Amin, 27, and Yusuf Ali, 26 were arrested on 6 December who helped them to escape and accused in the case filed over the vandalization of Bangabandhu’s sculpture.They confessed before the court of Kushtia Senior Judicial Magistrate Delwar Hossain.

Kushtia Superintendent of Police SM Tanvir Arafath on Friday evening said to IANS, the college authorities have shown extreme negligence as they failed to protect the sculpture of Jatin.

"They have clearly violated the instructions of the government," he said, adding that the decision whether they will be detained or released will be taken after the interrogation ends.

Bagha Jatin Stamp published by Indian Government on 1971

Biography of a Top Revolutionary Bagha Jatin

Jatin was born to Sharatshashi and Umeshchandra Mukherjee in Kayagram, a village in the Kushtia, subdivision of Nadia district of undivided Bengal in what is now Bangladesh, on 7 December 1879.

Bagha Jatin was the principal leader of the Jugantar party that was the central association of revolutionary freedom fighters in undivided Bengal.

Bagha Jatin died in 10 September, 1915 at the age of 35 after being wounded during 75 minutes’ gunfight ensued, lasting seventy-five minutes, between the five revolutionaries armed with Mauser pistols and large number of police and British army armed with modern rifles and captured, then died in Balasore Hospital.

Jatin had a natural respect for the human creature, heedless of class or caste or religions. He carried for an aged Muslim villager a heavy bundle of fodder and, on reaching her hut, he shared with her the only platter of rice she had, and sent her some money every month.

In 1925, Gandhi told Charles Tegart that Jatin, generally referred to as "Bagha Jatin" (translated as Tiger Jatin), was "a divine personality". Tegart himself is purported to have told his colleagues that if Jatin were an Englishman, then the English people would have built his statue next to Nelson's at Trafalgar Square. In a 1926 note to J.E. Francis of the India Office, he described Bengali revolutionaries as "the most selfless political workers in India".

The locality of Baghajatin in Kolkata has been named after him. Barbati Girls High School situated near the banks of the river Budha Balanga in Balasore town has a statue of Bagha Jatin as it was here the erstwhile Balasore district government hospital was housed and he breathed his last. Chashakhand a place near Phulari just about 15 km east of Balasore has a park in his memorium as it was here he fought the British forces after crossing the Budha Balanga river which flows nearby.

Bagha Jatin had also attempts to organise expatriate Indian revolutionaries in Europe and the United States. Jatin's influence was international. The Bengali bestseller Dhan Gopal Mukerji, settled in New York and, at the summit of his glory, was to write,"Before 1914 we succeeded in disturbing the equilibrium of the government. Then extraordinary powers were given to the police, who called us anarchists to prejudice us forever in the eyes of the world... Dost thou remember Jyotin, our cousin – he that once killed a leopard with a dagger, putting his left elbow in the leopard's mouth and with his right hand thrusting the knife through the brute's eye deep into its brain? He was a very great man and our first leader. He could think of God ten days at a stretch, but he was doomed when the Government found out that he was our head."

Fed up with the colonial system of education, Jatin left for Muzaffarpore in 1899, as secretary of barrister Pringle Kennedy, founder and editor of the Trihoot Courrier. He was impressed by this historian: through his editorials and from the Congress platform, he showed how urgent it was to have an Indian National Army and to react against the British squandering of Indian budget to safeguard their interests in China and elsewhere.

a few Englishmen thrashed single-handed by an Indian, Wheeler advised the officers to withdraw the case. Warned by the Magistrate to behave properly in the future, Jatin regretted that he would not refrain from taking similar action in self-defense or in the vindication of the rights of his countrymen. One day, in a pleasant mood, Wheeler asked Jatin,"With how many can you fight all alone?" The prompt reply was,"Not a single one, if it is a question of honest people; otherwise, as many as you can imagine!"

 In 1908 Jatin was not one of over thirty revolutionaries accused in the Alipore Bomb Case following the incident at Muzaffarpur. Hence, during the Alipore trial, Jatin took over the leadership of the secret society to be known as the Jugantar Party, and revitalises the links between the central organisation in Calcutta and its several branches spread all over Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and several places in U.P.

 Through Justice Sarada Charan Mitra, Jatin leases from Sir Daniel Hamilton lands in the Sundarbans to shelter revolutionaries not yet arrested. Atul Krishna Ghosh & Jatindranath Mukherjee founded PATHURIAGHATA BYAM SAMITY which was an important centre of armed revolution of Indian national movement.They are engaged in night schools for adults, homeopathic dispensaries, workshops to encourage small scale cottage industries, experiments in agriculture. Since 1906, with the help of Sir Daniel, Jatin had been sending meritorious students abroad for higher studies as well as for learning military craft.

Upon returning to his native village Koya in March 1906, Jatin learned about the disturbing presence of a leopard in the vicinity; while scouting in the nearby jungle, he came across a Royal Bengal tiger and fought hand-to-hand with it. Wounded, he managed to strike with a Gorkha dagger (Khukuri) on the tiger's neck, killing it instantly. The famous surgeon of Calcutta, Lt-Colonel Suresh Prasad Sarbadhikari, "took upon himself the responsibility for curing the wounded patient whose whole body had been poisoned by the tiger's nails."

 Impressed by Jatin's exemplary heroism, Dr. Sarbadhikari published an article about Jatin in the English press. The Government of Bengal awarded him a ‘silver shield’ with the scene of him killing the tiger engraved on it. The title 'Bagha', meaning 'Tiger' in Bengali, became associated with him since then.Then the Indian police had announced a reward for the capture of five fleeing "bandits", so the local villagers were also in pursuit. With occasional skirmishes, the revolutionaries, running through jungles and marshy land in torrential rain, finally took up position on 9 September 1915 in an improvised trench in the undergrowth on a hillock at Chashakhand in Balasore. Before the gun fight with British Army, Chittapriya and his companions asked Jatin to leave and go to safety while they guarded the rear. Jatin, however, refused to leave them.

Jatin grew up in his ancestral home at Sadhuhati, P.S. Rishkhali Jhenaidah until his father's death when Jatin was five years old. Well versed in Brahmanic studies, his father liked horses and was respected for the strength of his character. Sharatshashi settled in her parents' home in Kayagram with her son and his elder sister Benodebala (or Vinodebala).

The contingent of Government forces approached them in a pincers movement. It ended with an unrecorded number of casualties on the Government side; on the revolutionary side, Chittapriya Ray Chaudhuri died, Jatin and Jatish were seriously wounded, and Manoranjan, Sengupta and Niren were captured after their ammunition ran out. Jatindranath Mukherjee died in Balasore hospital on 10 September 1915.

J. E. Armstrong, Superintendent of the colonial Police, Jatin "owed his preeminent position in revolutionary circles, not only to his qualities of leadership, but in great measure to his reputation of being a Brahmachari with no thought beyond the revolutionary cause."Noticing his ardent desire to die for a cause, Swami Vivekananda sent Jatin to the Gymnasium of Ambu Guha where he himself had practised wrestling. Jatin met here, among others, Sachin Banerjee, son of Yogendra Vidyabhushan (a popular author of biographies like Mazzini and Garibaldi), who turned into Jatin's mentor. In 1900, his uncle Lalit Kumar married Vidyabhushan's daughter.A gifted poet, she was affectionate and stern in her method of raising her children. Familiar with the essays by contemporary thought leaders like Bankimchandra Chatterjee and Yogendra Vidyabhushan, she was aware of the social and political transformations of her times. Her brother Basanta Kumar Chattopadhyay (father of Indian revolutionary and politician Haripada Chattopadhyay) taught and practised law, and counted among his clients the poet Rabindranath Tagore. Since the age of 14, Tagore had claimed in meetings organised by his family members’ equal rights for Indian citizens inside railway carriages and in public places.

As Jatin grew older, he gained a reputation for physical bravery and great strength; charitable and cheerful by nature, he was fond of caricature and enacting mythological plays, himself playing the roles of god-loving characters like Prahlad, Dhruva, Hanuman, Râja Harish Chandra. He not only encouraged several playwrights to produce patriotic pieces for the urban stage, but also engaged village bards to spread nationalist fervour in the countryside.

Anglo-vernacular School, Krishnanagar, Nadia

After passing the Entrance examination in 1895 from Krishnanagar Anglo-vernacular School (A.V. School), Jatin joined the Calcutta Central College (now Khudiram Bose College), to study Fine Arts. At the same time, he took lessons in steno typing with Mr. Atkinson: this was a new qualification opening the possibilities of a coveted career. Soon he started visiting Swami Vivekananda, whose social thought, and especially his vision of a politically independent India – indispensable for the spiritual progress of humanity – had a great influence on Jatin. The Master taught him the art of conquering libido before raising a batch of young volunteers "with iron muscles and nerves of steel", to serve miserable compatriots during famines, epidemics and floods and running clubs for "man-making" in the context of a nation under foreign domination. They soon assisted Sister Nivedita, the Swami's Irish disciple, in this venture.

In 1900, Jatin married Indubala Banerjee of Kumarkhali upazila in Kushtia; they had four children: Atindra (1903–1906), Ashalata (1907–1976), Tejendra (1909–1989), and Birendra (1913–1991). Struck by Atindra’s death, Jatin, with his wife and sister, set out on a pilgrimage and recovered their inner peace by receiving initiation from the saint Bholanand Giri of Hardwar. Aware of his disciple’s revolutionary commitments, the holy man extended to him his full support.

Revolutionary activities of Bagha Jatin

Several sources mention Jatin as being among the founders of the Anushilan Samiti in 1900, and as a pioneer in creating its branches in the districts. According to Daly's Report: "A secret meeting was held in Calcutta about the year 1900.

 The meeting resolved to start secret societies with the object of assassinating officials and supporters of Government.

 One of the first to flourish was at Kushtea, in the Nadia district of undivided Bengal. This was organised by one Jatindra Nath Mukherjee.

 Nixon reports further,"The earliest known attempts in Bengal to promote societies for political or semi-political ends are associated with the names of the late P. Mitter, Barrister-at-Law, Miss Saralabala Ghosal and a Japanese named Okakura. These activities commenced in Calcutta somewhere about the year 1900, and are said to have spread to many of the districts of Bengal and to have flourished particularly at Kushtia, where Jatindra Nath Mukharjiwas leader." Bhavabhushan Mitra's written notes precise his presence along with Jatindra Nath during the first meeting. A branch of this organisation (Anushilan Samiti), was to be inaugurated in Dacca. In 1903, on meeting Sri Aurobindo at Yogendra Vidyabhushan's place, Jatin decides to collaborate with him and is said to have added to his programme the clause of winning over the Indian soldiers of the British regiments in favour of an insurrection. W. Sealy in his report on "Connections with Bihar and Orissa" notes that Jatin Mukherjee "a close confederate of Nani Gopal Sen Gupta of the Howrah Gang worked directly under the orders of Aurobindo Ghosh.”

In 1905, during a procession to celebrate the visit of the Prince of Wales at Calcutta, Jatin decides to draw the attention of the future Emperor on the behaviour of HM's English officers. Not far from the royal coach, he singles out a cabriolet on a side-lane, with a group of English military men sitting on its roof, their booted legs dangling against the windows, seriously disturbing the livid faces of a few native ladies. Stopping beside the cab, Jatin asks the fellows to leave the ladies alone. In response to their cheeky provocation, Jatin rushes up to the roof and fells them with pure Bengali slaps till they drop on the ground. The show is not innocent. Jatin is well aware that John Morley, the Secretary of State, receives regularly complaints about the English attitude towards Indian citizens, "The use of rough language and pretty free use of whips and sticks, and brutalities of that sort..." He will be further intimated that the Prince of Wales, "on his return from the Indian tour had a long conversation with Morley [10/5/1906] (...) He spoke of the ungracious bearing of Europeans to Indians."

Organising relentless relief missions with a paramedical body of volunteers following almost a military discipline, during natural calamities such as floods, epidemics, or religious congregations like the Ardhodaya and the Kumbha Mela, or the annual celebration of Ramakrishna's birth, Jatin was suspected of utilising these as pretexts for group discussions with regional leaders and recruiting new freedom fighters to fight the supporters of the Britain.

Duly appreciated for his professional competence, in 1907 Jatin was "sent to Darjeeling on some special work," for a period of three years. "From early youth he had the reputation of a local Sandow and he soon attracted attention in Darjeeling in cases in which (...) he tried to measure the strength with Europeans. In 1908 he was leader of one of several gangs that had sprung up in Darjeeling, whose object was the spreading of dissatisfaction, and with his associates he started a branch of the Anushilon Samiti,called the Bandhab Samiti. In April 1908, in Siliguri railway station, Jatin got involved in a fight with a group of English military officers headed by Captain Murphy and Lt Somerville, leading to legal proceedings, widely covered by the press. On observing the gleeful animosity created by the news.

The Jatin Mukherjee spirit

After the Alipore Case, Jatin organized a series of what author Arun Chandra Guha describes as "daring" actions in Calcutta and in the districts, "to revive the confidence of the people in the movement ... These brought him into the limelight of revolutionary leadership although hardly anybody outside the innermost circle ever suspected his connection with those acts. Secrecy was absolute in those days – particularly with Jatin".Almost contemporaneous with the anarchist gang of Bonnot well known in France, Jatin invented and introduced in India bank robbery on automobile taxi-cabs, " a new feature in revolutionary crime. "

Several outrages were committed,for instance, in 1908, on 2 June and 29 November; an attempt to assassinate the Lt Governor of Bengal on 7 November 1908; in 1909, on 27 February 23 April 16 August 24 September and 28 October; two assassinations – of the Prosecutor Ashutosh Biswas (on 10 February 1909) and the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Samsul Alam (on 24 January 1910): both these officers had been determined to get all the accused condemned. Arrested, outwitted by the Police, Biren Datta-Gupta, the latter's assassin, disclosed Jatin's name as his leader.

On 25 January 1910, "with the gloom of his assassination hanging over everyone", the Viceroy Minto declared openly,"A spirit hitherto unknown to India has come into existence (...), a spirit of anarchy and lawlessness which seeks to subvert not only British rule but the Governments of Indian chiefs..."On 27 January 1910, Jatin was arrested in connection with this murder, but was released, to be immediately re-arrested along with forty-six others in connection with the Howrah-Sibpur conspiracy case, popularly known as the Howrah Gang Case. The major charge against Jatin Mukherjee and his party during the trial (1910–1911) was "conspiracy to wage war against the King-Emperor" and "tampering with the loyalty of the Indian soldiers" (mainly with the 10th Jats Regiment) posted in Fort William, and soldiers in Upper Indian Cantonments.While held in Howrah jail, awaiting trial, Jatin made contact with a few fellow prisoners, prominent revolutionaries belonging to various groups operating in different parts of Bengal, who were all accused in this case. He was also informed by his emissaries abroad that very soon Germany was to declare war against England. Jatin counted heavily on this war to organise an armed uprising along with Indian soldiers in various regiments.

 

The Howrah-Sibpur conspiracy case

The case failed because of lack of proper evidence thanks to Jatin's policy of a loose decentralised organisation federating scores of regional units, as observed by F.C. Daly more than once,"The gang is a heterogeneous one, with several advisers and petty chiefs... From the information we have on record we may divide the gang into four parts: (1) Gurus, (2) Influential supporters, (3) Leaders, (4) Members."J.C.

Nixon's report is more explicit: "Although a separate name and a separate individuality have been given to these various parties in this account of them, and although such a distinction was probably observed amongst the minor members, it is very clear that the bigger figures were in close communication with one another and were frequently accepted members of two or more of these samitis. It may be taken that at some time these various parties were engaged in anarchical crime independently, although in their revolutionary aims and usually in their origins they were all very closely related."

Several observers pinpointed Jatin so accurately that the newly appointed Viceroy Lord Hardinge wrote more explicitly to Earl Crewe (H.M.'s Secretary of State for India): "As regards prosecution, I (...) deprecate the net being thrown so wide; as for example in the Howrah Gang Case, where 47 persons are being prosecuted, of whom only one is, I believe, the real criminal. If a concentrated effort had been made to convict this one criminal, I think it would have had a better effect than the prosecution of 46 misguided youths."

On 28 May 1911, Hardinge recognized: "The 10th Jats case was part and parcel of the Howrah Gang Case; and with the failure in the latter, the Government of Bengal realised the futility of proceeding with the former... In fact, nothing could be worse, in my opinion, than the condition of Bengal and Eastern Bengal. There is practically no Government in either province..."

Jatin Mukherjee was not involved in the Alipore Bomb case. Jatin was acquitted in February 1911 and released.

Immediately, he suspended armed revolution. This lull proved Jatin's full command of violence as an antidote, contrary to the Chauri Chaura fiasco after him. During the German Crown Prince's visit to Calcutta, Jatin met him and received a promise about arms supply.Having lost his government job – and home interned, he managed to leave Calcutta, to start a contract business constructing the Jessore–Jhenaidah railway line. This provided him with a valid pretext and an ample scope to move about on horse-back or on the bicycle to consolidate not only the district units in Bengal, but also to revitalise those in other provinces. Jatin with his family set out on a pilgrimage, and at Haridwar visited his Guru, Bholananda Giri. Jatin went on to Brindavan where he met Swami Niralamba (who had been Jatindra Nath Banerjee, the renowned revolutionary, before leading a sanyasi's life); he had continued preaching in North India Sri Aurobindo's doctrine of a revolution.

Niralamba gave Jatin complementary information about, and links to, the units set up by him in Uttar Pradesh and the Punjab. An important part of revolutionary activities in these regions were led by Rasbehari Bose and his associate Lala Hardayal. On returning from his pilgrimage, Jatin started reorganising Jugantar accordingly. During the Damodar flood in 1913, mainly in the districts of Burdwan and Midnapore, relief work brought together leaders of various groups Jatin "never asserted his leadership, but the party members in the different districts acclaimed him as their leader."

Drawn by Jatin's relief work during the flood, Rasbehari Bose left Benares to join him, the contact with Jatin added a new impulse to Bose's revolutionary zeal,in Jatin, he discovered "a real leader of men" At the close of 1913, Bose met Jatin to discuss the possibilities of an All-India armed rising of 1857 type. Impressed by Jatin's "fiery energy and personality", Bose renewed negotiation with the native officers posted at the Fort William of Calcutta, the nerve centre of the various regiments of the colonial Army, before returning to Benares "to organise the scattered forces."

Right since 1907, Jatin's emissary, Taraknath Das had been organising, with Guran Ditt Kumar and Surendramohan Bose, evening schools for Indian immigrants (a majority of them Hindus and Sikhs) between Vancouver and San Francisco, through Seattle and Portland: in addition to learning how to read and write simple English, they were informed about their rights in the USA and their duty towards Mother India, two periodicals – Free Hindustan (In English, sponsored by local Irish revolutionaries) and Swadesh Sevak ('Servants of the Motherland', in Gurumukhi) – became increasingly popular. In regular contact with Calcutta and London (where the organisation was managed by Shyamji Krishnavarma), Das wrote regularly to personalities throughout the world (like Leo Tolstoy and Éamon de Valera). In May 1913, Kumar left for Manilla to create a satellite linking Asia with the American West Coast. Familiar with the doctrine of Sri Aurobindo and an erstwhile follower of Rasbehari Bose, in 1913, invited by Das, Har Dayal resigned from his teaching job at the University of Berkeley, coaxed by Jiten Lahiri (one of Jatin's emissaries) of wasting his time in daydreaming, Har Dayal set out on a lecture tour covering the major centres of Indian immigrants; enlivened by their ardent patriotism, he preached open revolt against the English rulers of India. Welcomed by the Indian militants of San Francisco, in November, he founded his journal Ghadar ('Revolt') and the Yugantar Ashram, as a tribute to Sri Aurobindo. The Sikh community also became involved in the movement.

During World War I- Main article: Hindu–German Conspiracy

Shortly after when World War I broke out, in September 1914, an International Pro-India Committee was formed at Zürich. Very soon it merges into a bigger body, to form the Berlin Committee, or the Indian Independence Committee, led by Virendranath Chattopadhyaya alias Chatto: it gained the support of the German government and had as members prominent Indian revolutionaries abroad, including leaders of the Ghadar Party. Militants of the Ghadar Party started leaving for India, to join the proposed uprising inside India during World War I, with the help of arms, ammunition, and funds promised by the German government. Advised by Berlin, Ambassador Bernstorff in Washington arranged with Von Papen, his military attaché, to send cargo consignments from California to the coast of the Bay of Bengal, via Far East.

These efforts were directly connected with the Jugantar, under Jatin's leadership, in its planning and organising an armed revolt. Rash Behari Bose assumed the task of carrying out the plan in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. This international chain work conceived by Jatin came to be known as the German Plot, the Hindu–German Conspiracy, or the Zimmermann Plan. Jugantar started to collect funds by organising a series of dacoities (armed robberies) known as "Taxicab dacoities" and "Boat dacoities". Charles Tegart, in his "Report No. V" on the seditious organisations mentions the "certain amount of success" in the contact that exists between the revolutionaries and the Sikh soldiers posted at Dakshineshwar gunpowder magazine; Jatin Mukherjee in company of Satyendra Sen was seen interviewing these Sikhs. Sen "is the man who came to India with Pingle. Their mission was specially to tamper with the troops. Pingle was captured in Punjab with bombs and was hanged, while Satyen was interned under Regulation III in the Presidency Jail."With Jatin's written instructions, Pingle and Kartar Singh Sarabha met Rasbehari in North India.

Preoccupied by the increasing police activities to prevent any uprising, eminent Jugantar members suggested that Jatin should move to a safer place. Balasore on the Odisha coast was selected as a suitable place, being very near the spot where German arms are to be landed for the Indian rising. To facilitate transmission of information to Jatin, a business house under the name "Universal Emporium" was set up, as a branch of Harry & Sons in Calcutta, which had been created for keeping contacts with revolutionaries abroad. Jatin, therefore, moved to a hideout outside Kaptipada village in the native state of Mayurbhanj, more than thirty miles away from Balasore.

On reaching Odisha, in April 1915, Jatin sent one of his close associates, Naren Bhattacharya (future M. N. Roy) to Batavia, following instructions from Chatto, to make a deal with the German authorities concerning financial aid and the supply of arms. Through the German Consul, Naren met Theodore, brother of Karl Helfferich, who assured him that a cargo of arms and ammunition was already on its way, "to assist the Indians in a revolution."

The network of Czechoslovak revolutionaries and emigrants also had a role in the uncovering of Jatin's plans and some of the earlier plots. Its members in the United States, headed by E. V. Voska, were, as Habsburg subjects, presumed to be German supporters, but were actually involved in spying on German and Austrian diplomats. Voska had begun working with Guy Gaunt, who headed Courtenay Bennett's intelligence network, at the outbreak of the war and on learning of the plot from the members of the network in Europe, passed on the information to Gaunt and to Tomáš Masaryk who further passed on the information the Americans.

As soon as the information reached the British authorities, they alerted the police, particularly in the delta region of the Ganges, and sealed off all the sea approaches on the eastern coast from the Noakhali–Chittagong side to Odisha. Harry & Sons was raided and searched, and the police found a clue which led them to Kaptipada village, where Jatin was staying with Manoranjan Sengupta and Chittapriya Ray Chaudhuri; a unit of the Police Intelligence Department was dispatched to Balasore.

Jatin was kept informed and was requested to leave his hiding place, but his insistence on taking Niren and Jatish with him delayed his departure by a few hours, by which time a large force of police, headed by top European officers from Calcutta and Balasore, reinforced by the army unit from Chandbali in Bhadrak State, had reached the neighbourhood. Jatin and his companions walked through the forests and hills of Mayurbhanj, and after two days reached Balasore Railway Station.

 

 

While burning itself......Walk Alone...

Darkness Overpowers the Truth
When The World Bows to the Fear
Be the fire that lights up the darkened world
While burning itself......Walk Alone.....

যদি সবাই ফিরে যায়, ও রে ও অভাগা,/যদি গহন পথে যাবার কালে কেউ ফিরে না চায়-তবে পথের কাঁটা/ও তুই রক্তমাখা চরণতলে একলা দ'লো রে ।।
যদি আলো না ধরে, ওরে ও অভাগা,/যদি ঝড়-বাদলে আঁধার রাতে দুয়ার দেয় ঘরে-
তবে বজ্রানলে/আমার বুকের পাঁজর জ্বালিয়ে নিয়ে একলা জ্বলোরে ।

While burning itself......Walk Alone...

Darkness Overpowers the Truth
When The World Bows to the Fear
Be the fire that lights up the darkened world
While burning itself......Walk Alone.....

যদি সবাই ফিরে যায়, ও রে ও অভাগা,/যদি গহন পথে যাবার কালে কেউ ফিরে না চায়-তবে পথের কাঁটা/ও তুই রক্তমাখা চরণতলে একলা দ'লো রে ।।
যদি আলো না ধরে, ওরে ও অভাগা,/যদি ঝড়-বাদলে আঁধার রাতে দুয়ার দেয় ঘরে-
তবে বজ্রানলে/আমার বুকের পাঁজর জ্বালিয়ে নিয়ে একলা জ্বলোরে ।

Bangladeshi avant-garde artist S M Sultan close to the soil

Sheikh Mohammed Sultan (10 August 1923 - 10 October 1994), better known as SM Sultan, was a Bangladeshi avant-garde artist who worked in painting and drawing. His fame rests on his striking depictions of exaggeratedly muscular Bangladeshi peasants engaged in the activities of their everyday lives.

For his achievement in fine arts he was honored with the Ekushey Padak in 1982; the Bangladesh Charu Shilpi Sangsad Award in 1986; and the Independence Day Award in 1993.^[2] His works are held in several major collections in Bangladesh, including the Bangladesh National Museum, the National Art Gallery (Bangladesh), the S.M. Sultan Memorial Museum, and the Bengal Foundation.
Sultan was born in Machimdia village, in what was then Jessore District, British India (now Narail District, Bangladesh) on 10 August 1923. After five years of primary education at Victoria Collegiate School in Narail, he went to work for his father, a mason. Even as a child he felt a strong artistic urge. He seized every opportunity to draw with charcoal, and developed his talent depicting the buildings his father worked on.^[3] Sultan wanted to study art in Calcutta (Kolkata), but his family did not have the means to send him. Eventually, he secured financial support from the local zamindar and went to Calcutta in 1938.^[4]
There poet and art critic Hasan Shahid Suhrawardy restyled him S. M. Sultan and offered him accommodation in his home and the use of his library.^[3] Sultan did not meet the admissions requirements of the Government School of Art, but in 1941 managed to get in with the help of Suhrawardy, who was on the school's governing body.^[4][5] Under Principal Mukul Chandra Dey the school deemphasized the copying of Old Masters and moved beyond Indian mythological, allegorical, and historical subjects. Students were encouraged to paint contemporary landscapes and portraits expressing original themes from their own life experience.

Sultan left art school after three years, in 1944, and traveled around India. He earned his living by drawing portraits of Allied soldiers encamped along his route. His first exhibition was a solo one in Shimla, India, in 1946. Next, after Partition, came two individual exhibitions in Pakistan: Lahore in 1948 and Karachi in 1949. None of his artworks from this period survive, mainly due to Sultan's own indifference towards preserving his work.
The Institute of International Education (IIE) in New York ran an International Arts Program that brought exceptionally promising foreign artists between the ages of 25 and 35, selected jointly by their country's ministry of education and the IEE, to the United States for a stay of several weeks. The institute provided round-trip transportation and grants for living expenses. The program included visits to museums, a period of creative work or study at a school, consultations with leading American artists, and exhibition of the visitors' work.
Sultan's official selection by the government in Karachi made it possible for him to visit the United States in the early 1950s, and exhibit his work at the IEE in New York; at the YMCA in Washington, D.C.; in Boston; at the International House of the University of Chicago; and at Michigan University, Ann Arbor. Later he traveled to England, where he participated in the annual open-air group exhibition at Victoria Embankment Gardens, Hampstead, London.
The following year, while teaching art at a school in Karachi, he came into contact with leading Pakistani artists Abdur Rahman Chughtai and Shakir Ali, with whom he developed a lasting friendship. After a period living and painting in Kashmir, Sultan returned to his native Narail in 1953. He settled down in an abandoned building overlooking the Chitra River, where he lived with an eclectic collection of pets.^[4][11] He lived close to the land and far from the outside art world for the next twenty-three years, developing a reputation as a whimsical recluse and a Bohemian.^[3][12]
Sultan's drawings, such as his self-portrait, are characterized by their economy and compactness. The lines are powerful and fully developed. His early paintings were influenced by the Impressionists. In his oils he employed Van Gogh's impasto technique. His watercolors, predominantly landscapes, are bright and lively.^[4][13]
The themes of his paintings are nature and rural life.^[4] S Amjad Ali, writing in 1952 for Pakistan Quarterly, described Sultan as a "landscape artist." Any human figures in his scenes were secondary. In Ali's view Sultan painted from memory in a style that had no definite identity or origins.
Between Sultan's 1969 individual exhibition at the Khulna Club, Khulna, and the first National Art Exhibition (a group exhibition), in Dhaka, in 1975,^[14] a transformation took place in his work.^[6][13]
Agricultural laborers engaged in everyday activities such as ploughing, planting, threshing, and fishing took center stage on his canvases. The landscape - farmland, rivers, villages - was still present, but as a backdrop. What was distinctive about his figures, such as those in Char Dakhal (1976), was their exaggeratedly muscular physique. In this way he made obvious the inner strength of the sturdy, hard working peasants, the backbone of Bangladesh, something that would have remained hidden in a more realistic depiction.^{[1][6][10][12]}
Sultan did some of his best work in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1976 the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy put on an individual exhibition of his work. It was his first major exhibition and his first in Dhaka.^[1][11] The Museum of Fine Arts in Fukuoka, Japan, held an exhibition of his work in 1980. The next year he was selected as a member of the panel of judges for the Asian Art Biennale in Dhaka.^[10] The catalog of his solo exhibition at the German Cultural Center, Dhaka, in 1987, described how he saw his subjects:

"These people who lived close to the soil, who bore on their shoulders the burden of civilization did not appear to Sultan to be weak, debilitated, starving creatures who deserved pity and sympathy. Quite the contrary, he saw their bulging muscles, their vigorous torso, their overpowering vitality, their well-rounded buttocks and swelling breasts ready to come to grip with life."^[3]

The peasants were heroes to him. He described their place in his art:

"The matter of my paintings is about the symbol of energy. The muscle is being used for struggling, struggling with the soil. Power of those arms drives the plough into the soil and grows crops. Labor is the basis and because of that labor of our farmers this land has been surviving over thousand of years."^[14]

Sultan's paintings never included urban elements or anything produced by modern technology, which he considered imported. They are modern art in the sense that he broke with the artistic conventions of the past, but they remained figurative art with a narrative. He had little interest in abstract art.
Professor Lala Rukh Selim, Chairman of the Department of Sculpture, University of Dhaka, described Sultan as one of the four pioneers of Bangladeshi modernism, along with Zainul Abedin, Safiuddin Ahmed, and Quamrul Hassan.^[1]
Sultan received the Ekushey Padak, Bangladesh's highest civilian award for contribution in the field of arts, in 1982; the Bangladesh Charu Shilpi Sangsad Award in 1986; and the Independence Day Award, the highest state award given by the government of Bangladesh, in 1993 for his contribution to fine arts.^[2][5]
Harvesting (1986) is listed by the Bangladesh National Museum as one of its 100 renowned objects.^[15]
Sultan established the Kurigram Fine Arts Institute at Narail in 1969 and another art school, now named Charupeeth, in Jessore in 1973.^[3][5]
In 1989, Tareque Masud directed a 54 minute documentary film on Sultan's life, called Adam Surat (The Inner Strength). Masud started filming it in 1982 with the help of the painter, and traveled with him all around Bangladesh. According to Masud, Sultan agreed to cooperate only on the condition that "... rather than being the film's subject, he would act as a catalyst to reveal the film's true protagonist, the Bengali peasant."
In 2005, photographer Nasir Ali Mamun published a book Guru with 68 photographs of Sultan. These were selected from thousands of photographs taken by Mamun in the period from 1978, when he first met with Sultan, until his death.

Swami Vivekananda Chicago Speech 1893 Why we disagree

Swami Vivekananda Chicago Speech 1893 Why we disagree